Long distance provenances of jewelry (variscite & turquoise) along Atlantic Europe during the Neolithic (5th -3rd millenium) based on PIXE Analysis

Summary

The exceptional quality of the green lithic adornments (jade axes, beads) deposited in the large grave mounds from Brittany, France, constitute the most impressive funeral architecture of the Neolithic period in Western Europe. The highest density of callaïs jewelry occurs in the Carnac region with over 800 green beads and pendants found in 33 Neolithic sites. A research program based on the chemical analysis of archaeological artifacts and geological samples from European deposits using the PIXE technique (particle induced X-ray emission) was conducted in order to determine their provenance. A chemometric model has been established from the acquired geochemical database. It allowed to conclude that: (1) most artifacts were made of variscite, very few of turquoise; (2) all archaeological materials originated from the Iberian Peninsula; (3) from the half of fifth millennium until about 4000 BC, variscite was extracted from sources located in SW Spain (Encinasola, Huelva); (4) a procurement change occurred early in the 4th millennium, most variscite originating from NW Spain (Palazuelo, Zamora); (5) none of the Neolithic objects from Brittany were made of variscite from the well-known Mediterranean deposit (Gavà, Barcelona); and (6), during the Neolithic period, long-distance exchange of variscite-turquoise mostly developed along the Atlantic coast.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• A Taste for Green: An American/European Perspective on Ancient Jade, Turquoise and Variscite Exchange

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14863